Ultraviolet is a brand new service just announced by some Hollywood and technology heavyweights. The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), a collection of 58 studios and tech companies, is betting it’s future on Ultraviolet.

This will be a video standard – more like a codec and not a web site. Actually, more cloud storage than anything else. Essentially you will purchase a movie and store it on Ultraviolet (the cloud) and it will be available wherever you are and on whatever device you are using. This is very ambitious and very promising.

And not just movies, but TV shows will be available at kick-off. There is hope that later updates will add music and maybe even e-books.

Per their website (referring to the logo pictured at left):

“This logo will start appearing on movies for sale (designed for digital downloads and DVDs/Blu-ray Discs), in retailers’ stores and online offerings, and on devices or the apps that run on them. It will signify that everything with the UltraViolet logo is designed to give consumers a consistent, easy and “just works” experience – no matter who makes it or where it’s purchased.”

As you can see, most of the big players are here. The biggest absence is Disney. This may be because of their ties to Apple, who has an interest in their own online video service. If UltraViolet takes off, though, then I would guess that Disney will feel obligated to follow.

That leaves the biggest question as WHEN? Well, the press release issued on July 20 gives no indication of that. My guess is not next week or even next month, but maybe (probably) by the end of the year.